It is based on Dr Rolf’s knowledge in yoga, Alexander technique and osteopathy, and her strong belief in the connection between the body and gravity.

According to Dr Rolf daily disturbances such as stress, injuries, bad postures or emotional disturbances cause the body to be out of alignment with gravity, this can result in chronic pain, psychological and physiological impairments; people have to subconsciously compensate and cope with these limitations by breathing or moving less easily.

Rolfing differs from traditional massage in that it does not focus on the muscles but on the connective tissue which forms their protective layer.

Rolfing, also called Rolf therapy or structural integration, is a holistic system of bodywork that uses deep manipulation of the body's soft tissue to realign and balance the body's myofascial structure.

Rolfing movement integration, or RMI, is intended to help clients develop better awareness of their vertical alignment and customary movement patterns.

Rolfing rhythms are a series of exercises intended to remind participants of the basic principles of Rolfing: ease, length, balance, and harmony with gravity.

Rolfing, or Structural Integration, is a system of hands-on bodywork that brings the body into a new alignment and establishes better balance, greater flexibility and improved physical abilities.

Rolfing works in a series of sessions to release the fibrous and thickened connective tissue (myofascial system) that influences the alignment of the skeletal structure.

Rolfing Seattle practitioner Brad Jones brings years of training and hands-on experience to his work, helping people of all walks of life—sedentary, moderately active, and highly athletic—find new joy in using their bodies.

Rolfing is a kind of deep massage and "movement education" developed by Ida P. Rolf (1896-1979), a biochemist and therapist.

Rolf claimed she found a correlation between muscular tension and pent up emotions.

Rolfing is the name given to Dr. Rolf's method of massage, which transcends chiropractic in that it is based on the notion that emotional as well as physical health depends upon being properly aligned.

To further support the results of Rolfing, the most complimentary and beneficial forms of exercise are Pilates and Yoga.

Rolfing and Pilates design a treatment plan based on a visual analysis of a persons structure and their movement.

However, Rolfing and Yoga are not modalities to alleviate suffering.

www.ayabe.com /index_files/Page423.htm (769 words)

Rolfing Associates(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-07)

Physical therapists readily embrace Rolfing because the fascial manipulation that is a key technique of Rolfing is the subject of continuing education seminars for physical therapists who learn it, not as part of a body restructuring process, but as an aid in joint mobilization.

Rolfing was especially powerful for me in allowing me to feel good about being tall, which I had been uncomfortable with since my teens, and in coming to enjoy and appreciate my body after years of having a negative body image.

Rolfing excites me not only as a way to help people have healthier and more vibrant well-being in the present, but through their entire lives.

Rolfing is a scientific and intuitive system of balancing the physical structure in gravity; its fundamental and unique idea being that this omnipresent force will be received optimally by a body which is organized around a truly vertical principle of support.

Ida Rolf is the founder of the system, which she named Structural Integration, but which her students dubbed Rolfing.

The Rolfing series, or ten series, is a wholistic approach to well being, considering the relationship of the part to the whole and the whole to the part.

Those over forty may call it old age; yet all these signals may be pointing to a single problem so prominent in their own structures and the structures of others that it has been ignored: they are all at war with gravity."

Rolfing® Structural Integration is a system of soft tissue manipulation and movement education.

The goal of Rolfing is to change your body's structure so that you can rediscover, or find for the first time, an easier, healthier sense of balance and equilibrium.

Rolfing is a system of alternative medicine which involves a particular type of deep tissue massage.

Rolfing is not designed for the treatment of a particular medical problem but is rather aimed at realigning the entire to enabling a free flow of energy and an enhanced ability to fight disease.

Rolfing consists of ten hour-long sessions, usually spaced a week or more apart, during which the Rolfer uses pressure from fingers, hands, fists, and elbows to manipulate the patient’s major muscle groups and tissue.

The techniques of Rolfing involve slow, deep stretching around joints, lengthening of shortened, bunched tissues and freeing up stuck, frozen tissues so that your body moves in the way it was meant to.

The Rolf Institute was founded in 1971 in Boulder, Colorado by Dr. Ida Rolf, who held a doctorate in biochemistry.

Rolfing is a postgraduate course for individuals who have completed the required coursework in anatomy, physiology and kinesiology, have demonstrated an ability in hands-on work such as massage and who have the maturity and sensitivity to work with people using this technique.

www.rolfing.com.au (401 words)

The Rolfing Centre Home page(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-07)

Rolfing® refers to a system of Structural Integration and manual therapy developed by Dr Ida Rolf over 50 years of study.

Rolfing cannot accurately be described as therapy or as a returning of the body to a "natural" state from which it has deteriorated.

The true genius of her method is the art and science of reshaping and reorganising human structure according to clearly defined principles in a systematic and consistent manner.

Rolfing is a method that aims to bring the body back to its natural state of balance.

He or she will also explain what Rolfing is and review the different stages of the treatment process.

Traditional Rolfing treatments comprise ten sessions, which are designed to work gradually from the outer superficial fascia (sessions one, two, and three) to deeper layers of the fascia (sessions four, five, six, and seven), and then integration of the two (sessions eight, nine, and ten).